Management of Local Council Funds

Each local council must keep all funds (state funds from the MCC interest earned and locally raised funds) in the LCC's municipal account. The LCC's municipal account must be a revolving account kept separate and apart from all other monies administered by the city or town treasurer as specified by M.G.L. c. 10, § 58. Councils are entitled to interest on their municipal account and to regular financial reports from the municipality. The funds may be spent as the local council directs, but may be accessed only through the process used by the community's treasurer and/or accountant's office for the expenditure of public funds. Separate checkbooks or non-municipal accounts are not permissible. Locally raised funds and interest earned can be spent at the discretion of the local council, but only to support the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences. Unlike state funds distributed to the LCC from the MCC, prior MCC approval for expenditure of locally raised funds and interest earned is not required. An LCC may not accumulate unspent state funds at the local level. Unspent funds accrue for various reasons, typically because previously approved projects were completed for less than the amount awarded, or not completed at all. Unspent state funds from prior fiscal years must be accounted for, reported to the MCC, and regranted in the next available funding cycle stipulated by the timeline set forth by the MCC. Generally, grant recipients have one year after final notification of an award to spend that award. However, an LCC may, at its own discretion, approve a reasonable extension for a grant recipient. In summary, if the original source of the funds was the MCC, the LCC must use the MCC process and timeline for redistributing these funds.